


Clip My Wings

by UnapologeticallyMeatwad



Category: The Poppy War - R. F. Kuang
Genre: ACAB, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Police, Enemies to Friends to Lovers to Enemies Again and then finally back to Lovers, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Prison breakout, rin and nezha are former partners in the police force but not anymore babyyyyy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28078119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnapologeticallyMeatwad/pseuds/UnapologeticallyMeatwad
Summary: Ex-cop Fang Runin, and her best friend Chin Kitay, orchestrate the prison break of the century and Officer Yin Nezha has to make a decision on who to help.
Relationships: Fang Runin/Yin Nezha
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Clip My Wings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bittersnake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittersnake/gifts).



> I have not read the Burning God yet, so please no spoilers or allusions to it in the comments! Also to bittersnake, the person this fic is for, thank you for the prompt and Merry Christmas. : ) I've always wanted to write a Poppy War fic so this was a gift to me unto itself. Had so much writing this.

“Opium possession,” Kitay lists off as Rin and him strut down the halls to a prison they’re cracking open like an egg. 

“Alright, you’re free to go then,” Rin eyes the prisoner and holds her hand up to the bars, fingertips popping open to reveal little blowtorches that quickly melt away the bars. She yawns. “Stay there though. We’re all leaving together. Safety in numbers.”

There was an accident sometime between Rin getting disbanded and to her becoming a revolutionary whatever-she-is. Ended with her getting a metal hand and um—some other things she doesn’t like thinking about. One of the Cike doctors did it for her—to her?—for her. 

Kitay loves spicing up and modifying her robot fist though so that’s generally kind of a perk of getting your hand smashed off. 

Go Go Gadget and shit. There’s a lot of things on her that are metal. Kitay’d flip out if he knew how fucked her body actually was.

Rin busts the prisoner out and she and Kitay move down the cellblock. She looks pretty spooky, dressed in black robes with a long cape. Her hair’s cropped short, and her face is expressionless. Bless Kitay for still having something of a soul. Keeps her motivated.

“Opium possession. Opium possession. Opi—hold up, I gotta…” Kitay’s voice trails off as he raises his tablet up to his nose. “...need a second…”

“Can you give me the next few at least?” Rin sighs. 

He says nothing. It’s fine. Her guess is that the pigs broke through one of the security doors Kitay commandeered to trap them in their little pig kennel while Rin runs the prison break of the century. He looks back up, “Sorry, they opened that first door. Second door in play. This is so easy. Good thing you knew all those codes, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she echoes. Rin used to work here. She was a cop. A bad one too. You have to be  _ really  _ bad to get kicked out of the police but here she is. Little bit of therapy, little bit of psychiatry, and she’s mellowed out a bit. “Hey Sunni, what’s up.”

Suni, one of her friends from the old days rushes up to his cell bars. Rin knows he didn’t do shit so she burns his bars away, tuning out the conversation Suni attempts to start with her. She keeps going. Opium possession, drug dealing, something to do with an eviction, this is so fucked—she just starts burning all the bars because _ none _ of the prisoners did anything wrong.

“Wait, Rin. Sex offender.”

Except this one guy. A spasm of rage rocks her whole body. She longs to reach through the bars and incinerate this guy into ashes. But she shouldn’t. If she kills  _ anybody _ , well, everything gets ten times harder. Not for her, but for the prisoners. So like. 

“Rin, cool it,” Kitay warns.

“Yeah, yeah,” she grunts, moving on and burning some more. “ETA?”

“I’m giving it five minutes before they crack my last hack.”

“How many cops?”

“Thirty. But more are en route.”

“We’re fifty so far.” 

“They’re going to open fire, you know.”

“Yeah,” she grunts, burning two cells open at once. 

Rin’s radio crackles. Expecting Altan or Chagan or Qara, she picks up the line. “Yoooooo—”

“ _ What the fuck are you doing. _ ” It’s a high voice with a lot of grit. Nezha. Her former partner, both in life and professionally. 

“Don’t talk to him, Rin,” Kitay says while fiddling with the tablet some more. 

Rin narrows her eyes and finally cracks a smile. “Oh fuck you, bro. You’re the one who kept the security codes the same—”

“ _ What are you talking about _ — _ ” _

“You wanted me to do this, bitch,” Rin shakes her head. “You lied and didn’t change any of the codes—even though you needed to as part of my termination—because you wanted me to come to you. You sweatin’ now, pig?”

“ _ Hey, that’s a bold faced lie, you _ — _ ”  _ his voice gets much lower. She imagines him dropping into a crouch below all the other pigs. “— _ can you not compromise me and shit. Okay so maybe I did what you said but fuck me it was a bad idea. _ ”

“You sure? No one’s dead yet.”

“ _ You’re going to be. Kitay too. You’re going to be surrounded soon, if you try to escape underground like I know you’re planning on, it’s rigged to explode. _ ”

“Is that so?” her voice drops too. She wishes he would just go away so she’d never have to feel anything again. Feeling things sucks. “I don’t know Nezha. I can never tell when you’re being genuine or when you’re being a Brutus to my Caesar. Stabbing me in the stomach like that. Shakin’ mah head.”

“ _ I’m sorry, Rin. I really am. _ ”

She freezes, and looks down. And sighs. And looks back up and starts walking again. “I know you are. So you said we’re surrounded.”

“ _ This is kind of like Die Hard, I’m the guy in the car and you’re McClane. Make sure to keep your shoes on. _ ”

“Duly noted, can you stop messing around? I don’t want to get shot in the face, and I need to get all these of these people out of here.”

“ _ People? I thought—hold the fuck up. You’re not just breaking out Suni.” _

“Um.”

“ _ What? _ ”

“Do you really think I’d risk my life for  _ Suni? _ ”

“She wouldn’t,” Suni echoes in the background.

Rin pinches the bridge of her nose. “The fuck do you think I’m doing, Nezha!”

Kitay clicks his tongue in the background. “There’s like one prisoner we’re leaving behind for you, don’t worry.”

“ _ Christ. Uh. Fuck. Okay I’m not gonna lie, I’m having regrets _ —”

“You  _ always  _ have regrets. Are you fucking helping me or not. Do me a courtesy and hang up if you’re not helping.”

Before Nezha can even make a decision for once in his life, Kitay steps forward. “YOOO! I got it, I got it. Okay. Okay. Hear me out.”

Rin sighs and looks at him. “What?”

He grins mischievously. “Two things we couldn’t hack—computers and the inter-com.”

Rin already picks up what Kitay’s throwing down. “Dude, I  _ hate  _ when we do this thing. You always get to leave with the escapees and I have to—”

“—you’re our utility, Inspector Gadget,” Kitay clucks. 

“—fuck I am. Alright Nezha. Spill the beans. I want those codes.”

“ _ Uuuuuuuh. _ ”

Kitay leans in so his mouth is directly over the walkie. “Do it or you ain’t never gonna date Rin again.”

Rin does not want to date Nezha again, definitely. That’d be dumb. 

But this is like improv, you always backup your scene partner. “Yeah, you can’t date me—”

“ _ Damn you guys think I’m shallow _ ,” Nezha moans.

~*~

The lights go out in the office all of the cops are trapped in, and they squeal. Even Nezha squeals, to like, boost the effect. He’s like Rin’s hype man. 

“ _ Hello gentlemen, _ ” Rin’s haunted voice fills the room as all the computer screens flicerk on to show her dark face sneering at all of them with red eyes. The way her smirk cracks her cheek open is scary, it’s like a carving in a jack o’lantern. “ _ I hope you’ve enjoyed this evening so far. I know I have. But I’m a little hungry…” _

Several cops go for their guns. Nezha glances around the room fast. These are his coworkers and he’s betraying them. For Rin. Violent, potentially psychopathic Rin who lusts for blood more than she cares about people. He knows  _ this _ is the part of tonight that she’s the most excited about; she loves killing cops, and she’s not going to be able to help herself now that she has the opportunity, regardless of what she probably promised Kitay.

“ _...I’m thinking about pork, how about you _ ?” Flames spit through the cracks in the floor and the cops dance about as the flares fly past them. Rin cackles softly, licking her lips. The monitors all turn off at once and there’s a scream from the left. Some cops screech and turn, firing into the dark. Another scream from the opposite side of the room. Nothing deadly at least, but she’s definitely working her way through the room, knocking people out.

Nezha wishes his coworkers weren’t so fast to their guns, makes it so much harder to defend their bullshit. 

“BACK-UP WE NEED BACK-UP!” one cop screams into his walkie. 

“ _ You do need back-up, I agree _ ,” her voice still carries through the inter-com. If Nezha really listens in though, he can hear the origin of her voice. She’s nearby. Not smart, Rin. He goes for his gun. If he has to kneecap someone to protect her, fuck, he guesses he will—

—tiles burst off the floor like shrapnel as two twin flame pillars rip through the office, Rin standing in the center of it, these two fantastic demon-like metal wings spreading to protect her from the flame. She licks her lips again. 

Mad-eyed Rin. Blood-craven Rin. Psychopathic Rin. Rin from Hell. The guys on the force gave her so many horrible names and now here she is. With wings. Nezha didn’t know Kitay made wings for her, it’s fucking scary as hell.

It’s so fast. She leaps forward and with inhuman agility, she darts about the room, clawing officers to the ground, Nezha included. She just pushes him though, fakes the swipe, and he’s still conscious, just surrounded by falling, bleeding, and burnt officers. He boosts himself up, watching her deflect bullets with the wings and punch one guy in the throat. 

How is she doing that? Nezha’s never seen her move like this. He’s starting to feel scared himself. It can’t just be her wings, it’s like she has magical powers or something. No human should be capable of this. Anyone else would be dead but no one has even  _ touched  _ her.

This needs to stop. She can’t do this forever.

“Kitay,” Nezha whispers into his walkie. “How much more time do you need?”

“ _ Not your concern.” _

_ “ _ Kitay, c’mon. I know you don’t like me but—Rin’s gonna get killed if she stays here too long.”

Rin lands across the office, shrouded in dark. She pulls a walkie out of an unconscious officer’s hand. “Captain Vaisra, I’m looking forward to seeing you.”

Ah shit, Nezha’s  _ dad  _ is coming.

“I just took out all of your men in this precinct. Hope you have more. Cell Block Five bitch.”

She crushes the walkie in her hand, and takes her own out. “Kitay, I don’t want anyone tracking you through me, so my connection is going dead. I’ll be fine.” She crushes that one too before Kitay can protest, and turns around, catching Nezha’s gaze. “The fuck are you doing. Pretend to be passed out.”

Nezha shakes his head. “Rin.”

“No,” she scoffs, wings folding back in and dropping to her ankles, meshing together to become a cape.

Cell Block Five is the one with easiest access to the underground getaway, and she’s guessing right that it’s the spot that’s also easiest to ignite the underground trap. 

Cell Block Five is also completely clear of prisoners in case of a break-out like this. It’s been getting so bad lately, that the commissioner felt it was necessary to safeguard the easiest escape route, no matter how many people it kills.

“I won’t let you,” Nezha pulls his gun on her, hands shaking. She doesn’t even bother looking back at him and leaves the room. “RIN!”

It takes him a minute too long to give chase, he just—he hates this. With Rin, it’s _ always _ a moral crossroads. He charges after her finally, not sure what he’ll do, and finds her stooped over the  _ correct _ metal panel in Cell Block Five. Kitay probably told her earlier, easy enough for him to find the bomb on his scans once he found out about it. She’s burning something fast, wires held in her mouth.

“What are you doing?” he asks plainly. He already knows.

“Just disarmed, rearming it to do something else,” Rin says gently, probably so her teeth don’t snap the wires. 

“This is wrong, you know that,” Nezha says. “All of them will die.”

“Aw,” Rin deadpans. “They deserve it.”

He winces. “You didn’t shut Kitay out because of the tracking, that’s bullshit, isn’t it?”

She hesitates for a moment and then finishes up, standing tall. “Ten seconds before this baby’s active, Nezha, you best walk away. It’s motion sensitive to any panels that’s vibrations can be felt by—”

“Answer my question, Rin.”

They speedwalk away, him dogging at her heels, stooping low so his eyes are level with hers. Eye contact usually works with Rin, if she allows it. 

“Rin.”

“Doesn’t matter, it’s too late,” she says, voice now somewhat strained. “You should go. Seriously. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Nezha whirls around her and grabs her by the forearms, expecting her to flip him and crush his throat in; she doesn’t. 

“Think of what happens to those prisoners.”

“I know what happens,” Rin growls. “Military interference in this city. Fascist state. We’ve seen it. But killing these bastards is inevitable, and this is a surprisingly easy way of doing it.”

Nezha can hear the footsteps now, his father calling out orders. They’re on the lower level of the Cell Block. Dad will probably get shooters on the girders to shoot at Rin from Levels 1, 2, and 3. She’ll protect herself with her wings, and some idiot will try to be a hero and go hand-to-hand with her, run across ground level, trigger the bomb, and  _ everything _ goes up. 

At least fifty dead, if not more.

“Fuck this,” Nezha dashes back to where Rin was just standing. She turns around.

“Nezha, what the fuck are you—no  _ NO _ don’t—”

He triggers the bomb. It goes off several tiles ahead of him and it’s all orange and white and hot. He falls back, ready to take it when metal wings clap over him and hands grab him from behind, holding him tight.

~*~

It’s dark down here, and deep. Far deeper than she imagined. Rin always knew there were tunnels that had been used for escapes, and to think the pigs co-opted that escape into a beginner’s trap… damn. Cell Block 5 came with them too, bomb hit harder than she thought. Levels 1, 2, and 3 crumbled into the floor and that came down too.

No cops died though. They got saved. Just how Nezha wanted it. She got her escape too. Kitay is probably fine, Rin held the distraction long enough.

They’re safe now. Rin holds Nezha, tight, waiting for him to wake up. She is nearly paralyzed in pain. When he does come to, she speaks fast. “Break my wings, please.”

“What?” he blinks dumbly. Stupid Nezha.

“If I move, I’m pretty sure they are going to catch on something an drag my spine out. Please. Just do it.”

He gets up quietly and grabs her to keep her in place and kicks the wings. They took enough of a beating earlier that they snap off pretty fast and damn, she can breathe again. Still hurts like a bitch though, someone’s going to need to fix that. Metal got dragged  _ through _ her muscles, any more of a pull and it would have come out. 

“I thought,” Nezha comes around and kneels before her. “I thought you just wore those.”

“No,” Rin sighs, voice small. She’s never small like this. He just brings it out in her. “They’re fused to my flesh.”

Rin loses a little control then, who wouldn’t, and she knows her eyes move out of sync too. 

“Your left eye?” 

“Metal, yeah. It’s good at hacking.”

“Why… why did you do this to yourself?”

He’s acting like she’s Frankenstein’s monster. Maybe that makes sense. Maybe she really is that far gone.

“I didn’t,” she looks away. “Guy who built my hand got overzealous. Knees too, and some other stuff. I… just woke up like this, and he looked so proud. So yeah, I’m an android I guess. Cyborg. Whatever. I figured, hey, might as well use it to hurt people better. It’s what I’m good at.”

“Can you walk?” he touches her cheek. 

“Do you think I’d have this conversation with you if I could?”

“No, you’re too much of a tsundere,” he jokes and she smiles. “You know… just because some guy made you into a weapon, it doesn’t mean you have to be one, Rin.”

Rin just shakes her head. She won’t argue it; he won’t understand. Nezha doesn’t know what it’s like to have nothing else but blood cravings. “Thanks. You were right. If I roasted those pigs—”

“It’s good, you did the right thing,” Nezha assures. “Well, no, technically I guess  _ I _ did the right thing,  _ you _ just kinda made sure I didn’t die.”

She tries to just give him a look, but she laughs anyways. It hurts her ribs, but it feels good to feel sort of human. “My radio is broken. Yours is too, I checked. You know a way out of here?”

He boosts her up, letting her lean against his shoulder. She’s like a broken toy with all these malfunctions. “Yeah I’m good. I get us out, you get us to Kitay, and we’re gonna let Kitay work on your metal shit. Fuck that doctor.”

She hates that idea, but again, she knows he’s right. She hates when he’s right, because like, he’s the worst. 

All she can muster for now is a whisper. “Thanks.”


End file.
